The Sandwich Portfolio by Bob Clyatt is an easily investable version of sophisticated allocation concepts designed to help you escape the rat race.
Asset Allocation
Change the home country to translate the portfolio to local assets, currency, and inflation. This affects every section of the page.
Asset Notes
1. Clyatt recommends a specific Vanguard international small cap growth fund that was the only international small option available at the time the book was published. Keeping with the spirit of his overall philosophy, I allocated this portion to international small cap blend.
Author
Bob Clyatt
Bob Clyatt is an economics major and business professional who semi-retired at 42 to become an accomplished sculptor. He talks about the Sandwich Portfolio at his website Work Less, Live More.
Overview
The Sandwich Portfolio is based on the sophisticated market insights of Bob Clyatt, a successful business professional who earned degrees in finance and economics at Berkeley and MIT. While Clyatt’s full Rational Investing Portfolio includes lots of assets regularly accessible only to institutional investors, he describes the Sandwich Portfolio as a simplified version suitable for everyday investors. With small cap tilts, international diversification in stocks as well as bonds, an overall balanced allocation in terms of risk, and even a practical slice of cash, the Sandwich Portfolio is a thoughtful portfolio built to last.
That practical mindset is no accident. The Sandwich Portfolio is more than just an asset allocation by a stuffy economist in a tie. In fact, Clyatt left the rat race at 42 and is best known today as an award-winning artist. So his ideas are more than purely academic, and his proposed portfolio is just one component of a larger strategy with a greater purpose — to escape the work treadmill that keeps you down and empower you to pursue life on your own terms.
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Performance
Since 1970, an investor in the United States holding the Sandwich Portfolio earned an average 5.7% real return, with a baseline CAGR of 4.4% over 15 years. It supported a 4.8% safe withdrawal rate for 30 years and 4.1% indefinitely. Its worst peak-to-trough loss was 32%, and the longest a new investment spent below water was under 11 years.
Sandwich Portfolio Performance
| # | Metric | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| 5.7% | Average return | Mean annual return after inflation |
| 4.4% | Baseline real return (15 years) | What 15-year stretches returned in the weaker outcomes |
| 4.8% | Safe withdrawal rate (30 years) | Highest spending rate that lasted 30 years in the worst case |
| 4.1% | Long-term withdrawal rate | The SWR floor over very long retirements |
| 32% | Deepest drawdown | Worst peak-to-trough loss after inflation |
| 11 years | Longest drawdown | Longest a new investment stayed below what you put in |
| 10.4% | Volatility (standard deviation) | Year-to-year variation in returns |
Charts
Different ways to visualize the Sandwich Portfolio
Comparisons
How the Sandwich Portfolio compares to other options
Alternatives
Portfolios with a similar structure or design intent
Merriman Ultimate — Similar structure with multiple assets and additional value tilts
Pinwheel Portfolio — Shared high-level diversification philosophy
Swensen Portfolio — Same percentage of stocks and domestic bonds with more real assets
Articles
Insights that mention the Sandwich Portfolio
Discussion
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